SCOTLAND: Amazing and Extraordinary Facts

We begin with culture and the beginnings of the clan system, how the Scots have been led into battle by bagpipes, the tartan myth, the Gaelic language, cattle driving in the Highlands as we go on to makers of history, the real Macbeth, the King who helped create Scotland Malcolm III, Robert the Bruce its most famous monarch, the Normans who ruled the country, the tragedy of Mary Queen of Scots, the African adventures of Mary Slessor. In food and drink we meet Robert Burns, moonshiners, Heather Ale. There is Scotland at war with the death of kings, the building of the Caledonian Canal, planes, trains and rocket science, curling and jousting, cricket and football and tales from the dark side like the Dundee killer's final confession. Scottish history has been called 'the long brawl' with its clan wars, family feuds and invasions and this book explores the culture surrounding the many characters, food, sporting heritage and murder most foul in a concoction of trivia and stories. New full price, 144pp, woodcut illus.